Art imitating life for Mel

Father-of-seven Mel Gibson knows all about having a house full of kids, so it’s hardly surprising that his latest project is a TV show called Savages, which follows the life of a single dad raising five sons, aged between 11 and 17.

Although the Braveheart star won’t be appearing on screen, the storyline is very loosely based on his life.

Five of Gibson’s children are boys, but actor David Carradine will be playing a more working-class version of the multi-millionaire star recently hailed the most powerful man in Hollywood in the wake of his triumph with The Passion Of The Christ.

Gibson, whose father took his whole family to Australia after winning a cash prize on the US game show, Jeopardy, now lives with wife Robyn and their family in a sprawling oceanfront Malibu mansion.

Gibson himself directed the show’s pilot, which will first be screened on America’s ABC network.

He also has two other television shows in development, Clubhouse, a family drama starring former Superman star Dean Cain about a mascot for a New York baseball team, and Kevin Hill, which stars Taye Diggs as a slick lawyer who has to care for a baby.